@Ndpittman, I would either sub whatever starch you do have (cornstarch, potato starch, tapioca starch, arrowroot) mixed in the same ratio with water (what, 1T:2T or so?) and throw that in, or just leave it out entirely. Bananas already hold stuff together, it'll be fine.

Thanks, annak! I have the egg replacer though, unopened in my freezer. I was just saying I thought it was awesome I took a gamble on having some anyway, and I did! I was thinking about just throwing an extra banana in though as I have three overly ripe.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

Two people recently asked me to be their vegan food information resource! One is a friend who is interested in eating a more veg diet and has another vegetarian friend she wants to be able to feed. The other is in charge of organizing dinners at a camp ground we spend time at, and wants to know how to include vegan friendly foods in the menu!

_________________"That is some very responsible yolo-ing." - allularpunk"We are simple people, my husband is a mechanic with dirty hands, my daughter is a blue haired lesbian who's favorite activity is making people uncomfortable." - torque

So, the monthly staff meetings and bi-annual staff development days at my job include a lunch or dinner, which is almost always pizza from one of the places in town. Yesterday's set-up day was such a day, but today at staff development, they got a taco bar from Moe's so that my vegan coworker and I could eat, too. The nearest Moe's is like 20-30 minutes away, too.

I made the grapefruit ice box cookies from VCIYCJ for my hubby to take to a work potluck. It was department wide, and DH hadn't met most of the people before. I insisted he label the cookies as vegan in case anyone there was vegan, or had egg or dairy allergies. I wanted them to know they could eat the cookies. Omni DH protested at first with, "But people might not be willing to try them if they see the word vegan." I told him that people like that don't deserve my cookies.

Anyway, everyone scarfed them down and 5 or 6 people want the recipe. There was apparently quite a discussion about them being magical because they had no egg to hold them together, but OMG, yum!

Thanks, annak! I have the egg replacer though, unopened in my freezer. I was just saying I thought it was awesome I took a gamble on having some anyway, and I did! I was thinking about just throwing an extra banana in though as I have three overly ripe.

I think for some reason I thought I'd clicked on a different thread and missed the "and I did" part. My brain was apparently broken when I posted that!

so much veg stuff at the cookout i was at today! gardein barbecue chikn, veggie burgers, tofu kebabs, quinoa salad . . . i'm so grateful that the people i know are conscious of and willing to accommodate those choices. and three of my veg-but-not-always friends held out for vegan kebabs, even though they took twice as long as the meat because the host didn't know how to work a charcoal grill. awesome.

_________________"rise from the ashes of douchebaggery like a fancy vegan phoenix" - amandabear"I'm pretty sure the moral of this story is: fork pants." - cq

I went to see extended family members today and they made us a vegan Indian feast! Really great daal and grilled okra in chili and salt. Over wonderful rice. They are all omnis and when they insisted on making vegan food for me (without me even mentioning anything), I ate a large breakfast and kept a powerbar in my purse. But no, they were amazing and my cousin told me about checking online to make sure nothing that she put in was not vegan because she wanted to make sure I could enjoy with everyone else.

It was wonderful, and I was so moved by her care. I am not used to people making that much effort to go out of their comfort zone and feed me. When I think about it, it makes me feel teary and warm and fuzzy.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

I was driving around Greenlake (Seattle) and saw this lady wandering in the middle of the road. She didn't seem inebriated or anything, but her back was facing me. I sat there in my car for a bit. When she turned around and saw me she came up to my window. She didn't look like a nutter or anything, so I rolled my window down (ok, pressed the button). She came over and said that there was a mama duck and her babies trying to make it over to the lake and she didn't want them to get hit so she was kinda diverting traffic around them.

I was driving around Greenlake (Seattle) and saw this lady wandering in the middle of the road. She didn't seem inebriated or anything, but her back was facing me. I sat there in my car for a bit. When she turned around and saw me she came up to my window. She didn't look like a nutter or anything, so I rolled my window down (ok, pressed the button). She came over and said that there was a mama duck and her babies trying to make it over to the lake and she didn't want them to get hit so she was kinda diverting traffic around them.

How sweet! I love that.

I took a trip halfway across the country to visit my Mom, and we hadn't been to her house for almost a year and a half. Last time I had seen her, I was still an omni, but obviously she knows all about my husband and I going vegan. So on the way to see her, we stopped overnight at an old friend's house, who surprised us when we showed up with a box of vegan cupcakes from a local bakery! It was super thoughtful and unexpected.

Then, it got better. We get to my mom's, and here we find out that she's been spending the past month researching veganism online, making sure every product she had purchased for us to eat at her house was vegan! She cooked us an awesome meal the first night we were there of her homemade tomato sauce, with pasta and Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs and store bought vegan garlic bread. Dessert was a homemade vegan pound cake. She had Earth Balance in the fridge for us to spread on our bread, almond milk and cereal we could eat, and Super Pretzels in the freezer. She had really gone out of her way to accommodate us and make us feel taken care of, and I was blown away by the thoughtfulness. Not that I think my mom's thoughtless or anything, but I didn't expect her to go to such lengths to feed us and make our stay so much easier.

Best yet? Ever since our week at her house (almost a month ago now) she's been eating mostly vegan! She says we've changed the way she thinks, and our visit deeply affected her in a positive way. It makes me so happy!

I made cupcakes for someone's birthday at work (I am known as the resident baker) and just got this email: "Um…amazing. Seriously impressive that a carnivore and dairy lover like me is raving over a vegan treat!" I told her it was all part of my scheme to turn the whole world vegan.

This isn't necessarily a vegan pet awesome, but it's close. There is a girl in my camp this week who is 9 or 10 years old, and she told me she is a vegetarian. Her parents are vegetarian too. She's super cool, in general. Anyway, today she told me she hates it when people say they are vegetarian, but still eat fish. Because fish are animals! Or they say that they only eat some kinds of fish. But all fish are animals! I was like, YES. I think we might have a vegan in the making on our hands, folks.

I wish there was a non-creepy, non-pushy way to talk to this girl about the dairy and egg industry, but I don't want to ruffle any feathers at home, since that could get me in trouble with my job.

_________________But if one were to tickle Pluto, I suspect that it might very quietly laugh. - pandacookie

55k usd is like 4 cad or whatever equivalent in beavers you use on the island - joshua

My work had an event where attendance was mandatory during the 2 hours in which I usually graze at my desk and when I have lunch. I was prepared to be annoyed and hungry, and then it turned out they provided snack: non-vegan donuts (not useful to me but oh well) and a vast quantity of strawberries, and coffee. Two out of three is really not bad.

What I'm saying is I gorged myself on strawberries on my employer's dime and it was great.

My partner and I went to a BBQ at the house of his cousin and her family yesterday, and even though he explained to her in advance what I did or didn't eat, I was a little concerned she wouldn't quite get it. But they were awesome. I had brought Alpro filets just in case, (along with a big pasta salad to share) but didn't need them. Her husband made this awesome spicy chickpea stew, they had grilled courgette, and they had gotten me felafel patties for on the grill. Not only that, but they grilled the patties and courgette on a separate shelf above the meat (which I never even asked them to do). She had Alpro soy margarine on hand, not for me, but because she actually likes it! The only slip up was the sorbet, which she said didn't have anything in it I couldn't eat, and then after taking a few bites she mentioned gelatin. (Gelatin in sorbet?) She honestly had NO idea that gelatin was animal based. She was really surprised when I told her what it was. So I didn't eat any more of that and they didn't make a big deal out of it, and that was that!

She asked me a lot of questions about being vegan, mainly along the lines of whether it was difficult or expensive or if there was anything I missed eating. I realized that I do get tired of answering the same questions about it all the time (sometimes I just want to eat my meal without it becoming discussion time) but she was so kind and showed genuine curiosity about the lifestyle (not in the sense that she was interested in going vegan, but in the sense of trying to get her head around how I live), so I tried to answer her as best as I could.

_________________Ain't no guarantees in life, and nothing that comes out of my vagina can change that. - Erika Soyf*cker

I know! They were so sweet! And although omnis, they didn't seem like the type of folks who NEED to have meat with every meal. Her husband even was talking about a Belgian documentary he'd seen about the environmental impact of animal agriculture, so they didn't seem to think veganism was some weird, out there, idea.

We'll have them over sometime next month and I plan on making lots of vegan yummies for them to try!

_________________Ain't no guarantees in life, and nothing that comes out of my vagina can change that. - Erika Soyf*cker

aw, my father in law was really concerned about me having food to eat when we go visit so he called my husband to find out what I can eat. He really wanted to make his famous apple pie and it turns out he makes the crust with crisco and just flour, sugar, apples and spices in the crust. He's been making a vegan apple pie for years without knowing!

_________________I am not a troll. I am TELLING YOU THE ******GOD'S TRUTH****** AND YOU JUST DON'T WANT THE HEAR IT DO YOU?

I've been in Brazil for over a fortnight and so far have had absolutely no problem at all eating well and staying vegan, despite the frequently-voiced (and unsolicited) opinions of non-veggies back home before I left.

_________________"Your mother was a superstitious hamster, and your father smelled of elderberry (right before he died of an untreated infection). Now go away, before we taunt you with your credulous magical thinking a second time!" - Desdemona

aw, my father in law was really concerned about me having food to eat when we go visit so he called my husband to find out what I can eat. He really wanted to make his famous apple pie and it turns out he makes the crust with crisco and just flour, sugar, apples and spices in the crust. He's been making a vegan apple pie for years without knowing!

That's so great! And now I really want famous apple pie!

_________________"Like a wonky bourbon stonehenge. But in a good way." - Disappearing Ink

So I've been writing to a lot of businesses that would be appealing to the 20-25 year old gainfully employed single male demographic asking for donations to put in gift bags for our single sailors returning from deployment. It's tough work because I can't really solicit on behalf of the boat directly (because it could lead to charges that they were bribing the government or something and we have to be super careful to be clear that people are NOT giving to the ship, and I can't solicit officially as the so-and-so position's wife) and our family group is not a 501(c)3 because we're really too small. So it's mostly a lot of nos or stony silence.

But one of the first two places I contacted is being amazingly generous and basically giving us gift cards for every single sailor to have a meal there. I don't want to say the name here, but they're also one of my favorite omni regional chain "fast casual" places to visit as a vegan, and while I'm sure most of the sailors aren't going to use their cards to get a vegan meal it still makes me extra happy.

It must've been beginner's luck because I've yet to hear anything since from anyone, but still. I'm glad it's a place I can feel good having awesome feelings about.